Shibu ill, sons spar at will

Vijay Deo Jha Ranchi ELECTION Tuesday, April 7, 2009 National Page

There’s much rumbling within the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM). To be precise, within its chief Shibu Soren aka Guruji’s family!

As an ailing Shibu convalesces in the hospital, a war of succession is on between his sons, Durga and Hemant, to fill up the void and take control of the party, which is without a defined second line of leadership. Just days away from the first phase of election in the State, it has not only cast a shadow on the fate of the party but also its ally, the Congress.

Shibu thus has two formidable challenges on hand: To repeat the JMM’s success story of 2004 in this general election (keeping its alliance with the Congress intact) without his active involvement and decide his heir apparent without creating much dissent.

The war of succession, JMM insiders said, intensified after Shibu’s defeat in the Tamar Assembly byelection on January 8 this year. It has now reached a crescendo. “Elder brother Durga, however, seems to be losing out to Hemant. The younger brother has not only been involved in party affairs but also has the backing of party’s two senior-most MPs, Hemlal Murmu and Teklal Mahto, besides Shibu. But the JMM cadre are confused without Shibu, who is undoubtedly the only crowd puller for his party,” they said.

Both Durga and Hemant have had their share of defeats in the last Assembly elections but the former has already queered the pitch for the Congress, with which the JMM has an alliance in the State. First, he threatened to put up candidates on all the 14 seats and then went on to file his nomination from Godda (where the Congress has fielded its sitting MP Furkan Ansari), ignoring the pleas of everyone, including Shibu.

To him, the JMM’s UPA allies had conspired against his father to ensure his defeat in the Tamar byelection. He now wants to avenge it.

Shibu, however, was quick to issue a denial: “Durga is not the JMM candidate. The party has no plans to field him from Godda, nor has he been given the party symbol.”

Durga is also sore with the Congress and holds it responsible for “using” Shibu. He wanted his father to be re-installed as the Chief Minister before the poll. The Congress reacted by ignoring him. Its State in-charge K Keshav Rao then involved Hemant in the seat-sharing talks. While the Congress, with six sitting MPs, is contesting seven seats, the JMM -- with four sitting MPs -- is contesting five seats. The RJD has tied up with the LJP in the State.

The Congress announced that a JMM-led Government would be installed in Jharkhand soon after the UPA returns to power at the Centre. Durga felt Shibu was fooled yet again.

On many occasions, Durga had spoken against his own partymen in general and Hemant in particular. “Hemant to bachcha hai, usko party ke hi kuch senior log misguide kar rahe hain (Hemant is still a kid. Some party leaders are misguiding him),” he says. His associates point to Hemlal Murmu and Teklal Mahto, the duo that had grabbed the centrestage after compelling the Congress to install the JMM-led Government in Jharkhand in lieu of its support to the UPA during the trust vote last year.

Adding a new dimension to the war between the siblings are leaders like former Deputy Chief Minister and Kurmi leader Sudhir Mahto, who too nurses the ambition of heading the party. An ever-widening Kurmi-Adivasi divide in the party is also a cause for concern. The killing of a number of Kurmi leaders, including former JMM MP Sunil Mahto, has only widened the divide.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/167760/Shibu-ill-sons-spar-at-will.html

Durga set to take revenge from Cong for Tamar fiasco

Vijay Deo Jha Ranchi RANCHI Thursday, April 9, 2009 Front Page

The last date to withdraw nomination papers has lapsed and Durga Soren is still in the fray. The estranged UPA partners in Jharkhand — the Congress and the JMM — have charted different courses though without making any announcement of their formal divorce.

Durga Soren is yet another episode in the love-hate chemistry of the shaky UPA coalition. The eldest son of JMM supremo Shibu Soren refused to withdraw his nomination from Godda as the official candidate of the party stating that he was determined to avenge on the Congress the defeat of his father in the Tamar Assembly bypoll.

The decision has left the state Congress shocked. "We want the JMM chief to give his final word over this issue immediately. The JMM is left with two options: either to disown Durga as the JMM candidate or to reconsider its relation with the Congress," the State Congress incharge K Keshav Rao said.

The Congress is ready to grill the JMM and Shibu Soren over several points that went into the making of Durga as the official candidate of the party despite a letter written by the former to the chief electoral officer on last Saturday stating Durga was not among the party candidates who were given party symbols to fight the elections.

Hazaribagh and Koderma, where both the combines agreed for a friendly fight, are altogether a different case from Godda which is a battle of hatred. JMM chief Shibu Soren has been constantly reminding that the party had a poll pact with the Congress but that failed to impress Durga.

His decision must have left Congress nominee from Godda Furkan Ansari fuming as to what role he played in the defeat of Shibu, when the former was not in the picture at all in Tamar bypoll. But one of the close aides of Durga said that it was Furkan, who virtually blocked the road of Shibu at a time when he was quite unwilling to contest from Tamar. Soren had made his choice for Jamtara that could have been a safe bet for him, but that could not happen due to strong opposition from Furkan.

On Wednesday; the last day of the withdrawal of the nomination; the wary Congress leader in Godda and in the State capital anxiously waited for Durga to withdraw his nomination. But he better thought to execute his oath to route the Congress in Godda probably unaware of the gloomy poll prospect of his own party in the poll.

"Godda is no Jharkhand and there are other constituencies where the JMM needs the support of the Congress to win," Furkan fired an angry riposte over the whole fuss. If not directly then indirectly, Furkan told that Jamtara Assembly constituency falls within Godda where Guruji has filed his nomination paper to reoccupy the post of Jharkhand's Chief Minister that he lost after facing electoral discomfiture in Tamar.

In the past one month, the seat-sharing exercise of the UPA took several curious turns but Durga puzzled the Congress most. Only on Tuesday, the JMM and the Congress jointly stated confirming Durga has fallen in line and he would withdraw from the fray. The agitated Furkan curtly described it the conspiracy of 'father and son' who speak and act differently on the face but share same thought.

"If Durga is their candidate," as Shibu said, "then he (Shibu) must explain how Durga managed the party symbol. Shibu should lodge a criminal case against his errant son for obtaining signed nomination documents," Furkan contended.

The returning officer of Godda has already rejected the contention of the Congress where it claimed that Durga filed nomination without the consent of his party. Confirmation letter to his candidature was soon dispatched to the office of the returning officer before the hearing.